Stakeout
by Mash17
Summary: When stuck on stakeout, there's only one thing to do... It's time for 20 questions
1. All of Me

Stakeout

Disclaimer: Quite obviously not mine.

AN: I know it's not an update of Confessions or anything, but forgive me, I seem to have come down with a fatal case of Writes Block (as you can probably see :P). That, coupled with VCE exams, does not lead to a "Happy Mashee".

* * *

The stakeout. Not the favoured choice for a fun night on the town, but you've got to take the good with the bad, right? Anyway, on this particular night, after a tip off on their suspect's sudden need to leave the country, fast-ish, Simon and Duncan, Matt and Jen were stuck in their respective vehicles waiting the night out.

Matt and Jen were parked, inconspicuously, in front of the suspect's ground floor apartment; Matt whistling, Jen curled up with the new Stephanie Plum novel, quite oblivious to her partner's off-tune Sinatra impersonation. She didn't even notice his sudden silence and the pensive gaze he gave her.

"Right, put that down," he told her, gently pushing the book down.

"But Maaaaatt! It's just getting good." She pouted. God that pout always got to him, anytime she wanted anything, when she used that pout she always got her way. With him at least.

"I'm bored, so we're gonna play a game. No arguments."

"Fine, what do you wanna play? God forbid its I-spy! I refuse to play I-spy! I mean look around… 'I spy something beginning with I' obviously it's not that freaking difficult!" Jen's tirade reminded Matt of their last stakeout when he couldn't guess her last "spy", it took him 50 minutes until he just had to give up.

"Nah, let's play 20 questions, only about ourselves. You seem to know heaps about me but I barely know anything about you." This was he chance to learn the inner-Jen. Any information he could tease out could help him in his mission to win her heart.

"Fine, you first." Maybe, she thought, if I let him ask enough questions he'll finally work it out.

"Alright, tell me Jennifer Maplethorpe, what's…. what's your middle name?" Starting at the beginning should be inconspicuous enough, right? Right?

"Aurelia. Yours?"

Ah, playing it that way are we? Well let's see where that will land you. "Anthony. Favourite flower?"

"Yellow roses and Daisies. Not together, mind you, just by themselves. You have to answer every question, yeah, and truthfully right? That's the rules, isn't it?"

Yellow roses huh? Hmmm. "Yeah, truthful or else"

"Right. Why do you look at me like you do when you think no one is looking?"

WHAT? Where did that come from?

"You have to answer Mattie, or else, remember?" She smirked and suddenly Matt knew he was in serious trouble…

* * *

Well???? Awful right? I know. Blame the WB

Anyway

Love Mash.


	2. “I’ve Got a Crush On You…”

Stakeout.

Chapter 2

DISCLAIM- Aka "Don't Claim" (duh)

* * *

"I've Got a Crush On You…"

* * *

Last time on Stakeout…  
"Right. Why do you look at me like you do when you think no one is looking?"

WHAT? Where did that come from?

"You have to answer Mattie, or else, remember?" She smirked and suddenly Matt knew he was in serious trouble…

* * *

"Well… I…" He begun, nervously tugging at his tie and collar. Jen shifted slightly in her seat, turning to face him clearly, a smile on her lips. "I… I don't think that's any of your business." He blurted out, "and that's the truth."

Matt watched as her face slowly fell. First, the light in her eyes faded, next the corners of her mouth slipped, soon followed by the rest of the smile. She lowered her head as she felt tears form in her eyes. He was shocked. What was going on? How could his hasty answer cause that much of a reaction?

"Jen… I… Tell me what I…" He attempted to repair the damage of his stupid response.

"No. Stop." As he edged closer to her, Jen shifted back towards her door. "Nothing's wrong. It's your turn now."

She sniffed back a small sob, her heart breaking as she forced a watery smile on to her face. She now saw that it painfully obvious that he had no romantic feelings towards her. His relationship with Emma after she (quite stupidly she admitted) rejected his invitation for dinner was a shimmering piece of evidence against her and her feelings for her handsome co-worker.

"Sure." Matt responded, not at all fooled by the fake smile on her face. He resorted back to the classic, non-invasive line of questioning. "Ok then, where's your favourite place to go on holiday?"

"Um, well that's a hard one. Since when do we get time to even think about holidays?" She joked, feeling more comfortable with the non-personal question. She still felt the fool for overstepping the line before. "I think that, although I love to visit my dad in France, my favourite place to holiday is at a house that my friend owns down by Mornington, it's great, so quiet and all that." She smiled, remembering the great times she had in that house. "Hmm. So my turn, yeah? What is your all time favourite movie, and by all time I mean all time, childhood included!"

Matt smirked. Then looked pensive. "My favourite movie, of all time, childhood included is, don't you laugh now, is 'The Wizard of Oz'" He stopped as she burst out laughing. "Hey no laughing!"

"Sorry" She laughed, "it's just, that, well…" she couldn't say anything more, the bubbles of laughter were becoming to hard to control. "The Wizard of Oz is my favourite movie too and I just never saw you, or even considered you, watching it."

Now Matt was well aware that The Wizard of Oz was Jenny's favourite movie, he had found out one day at work when he, not so accidentally, overheard a conversation she had on speaker phone with her brother. He, the brother that is, invited Jen to go see the film at the Astor, begging her to take the time off work because, quote:  
_"come on JennyCat! It's the Wizard of OZ! You always watch it on the telly every time it's on, even though you have it on DVD, imagine watching it on the big screen! Come on, you know it's your favourite!"_  
And because of the conversation that he had eavesdropped upon, he went out and rented the film that he hadn't seen in such a long time and it had quickly become his favourite too.

"Ok, it's my turn!" he said as Jen's pearls of laughter slowly slowed to the occasional chuckle. "You said that your dad's in France. Explain?"

"Oh, that? You want to know that? You're aware that you're wasting your question right? Jen was puzzled that Matt wanted to know about her family, she had always passed on the impression that her family was particularly boring in order to prevent icky questions about them. When he nodded, accepting the full consequences of his choice and acknowledging the fact that he would, in fact, have other questions.

"Right then, my Dad is a professor of Art History at the Sorbonne and an associate curator at a particularly quaint, yet lovely museum in Paris, you may of heard of it, it's called the Louvre." She joked, uneasy about her next statement. "He moved there after the collapse of his marriage to my mother, he couldn't quite deal with the condition she was in. Ummm, you see, well," she hedged, "my mother isn't quite healthy, in her mind that is. What I mean is that my mother has schizophrenia. Their marriage collapsed because her sanity, well it just gave out for the last time. We had to put her into a "hospital" and he, understandably, couldn't cope with the fact she sometimes didn't recognise her family. They're still married thought; he just couldn't… well anyway, yeah…." That was the longest speech she had ever given about her parents. Those who needed to know already knew and those who didn't know really didn't need to.

Matt was stunned. That wasn't what he was expecting. He didn't quite know what to say, so wisely, he didn't say anything, he just slipped his hand around hers and waited for Jen to compose herself.

"I'm sorry to dump all of this on to you. I…"

Matt cut her off before she dug herself into a hole that she couldn't get out of. "Don't sweat it, my folks aren't all that great remember, for a while people thought that my dad had murdered my mother in a fit of rage whilst under influence of alcohol, so like I said, don't sweat it.

And with that strange piece of logic they slipped into companionable silence with Jen's hand sitting carefully between both of Matt's.

* * *

So that's it for now, seems to be getting its act together, doesn't it. So yeah. Just one or two things though:

THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS. Here I was thinking that WB was slowly taking away my sanity but obviously some people can see pass the disease and for that I love each and every one of you and this is dedicated to you guys.

If anyone can suggest some more questions, I have plans but no questions to go with.

Anyway

Love ya

Mashee


	3. Too Close for Comfort

Stakeout.

Me-no-own-this… I wish I did though… oh how I wish…Cause you know I'd share them with you. Imagine all the things we could do with Matt and Jen… *swoons*

* * *

_**Too Close for Comfort.**_

**Previously on Stakeout...**

"_I'm sorry to dump all of this on to you. I…"_

_Matt cut her off before she dug herself into a hole that she couldn't get out of. "Don't sweat it, my folks aren't all that great remember, for a while people thought that my dad had murdered my mother in a fit of rage whilst under influence of alcohol, so like I said, don't sweat it._

_And with that strange piece of logic they slipped into companionable silence with Jen's hand sitting carefully between both of Matt's._

* * *

Matt felt that after about half an hour he needed to break the silence, he knew that their previous topic of discussion had rattled Jen and was reluctant to pressure her with more personal questions. He struggled with his inner thoughts about how to re-enter conversation but as he was about to speak he found himself cut off.

"It's my turn to ask a question now, isn't it?" Jen said. Matt noticed that her eyes were still a little red and was ashamed to admit it to himself that he was the cause of the colour.

"It sure is," he blurted out a little more enthusiastically than he originally intended, "ask away."

Jen smiled at him, as loathed as she was to admit it even to herself, there was something so enticing, so attracting in his nearly constant enthusiasm. She wondered to herself whether he was this enthusiastic about everything… Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts she looked carefully at Matt, her eyes narrowing as she decided on which avenue of questioning to follow.

"Tell me about your worst job" she decided on the simple, non-invasive route, convinced that would keep her from falling to pieces again.

"My worst job?" Matt pondered on this, as he knew that none of the jobs he'd ever had were that bad. Then it came to him.

"It's not really a worst job but a pretty bad experience at one. It was just after I qualified for beat work as a cop. Um.. I had been partnered with a senior constable for this night and we were responsible for these four clubs on King St. It was a Saturday night and for some stupid reason these two wasted idiots decided to have a fist fight in the middle of the street. Tom, that's the senior constable, called for backup and then the two of us leapt in to try to pull them apart. I don't really know how it happened but I was knocked out in the process. I woke up in hospital two days later to the teasing of my mates. Apparently I had been thrown in to a dumpster by one of the idiots, who, honest to God, was only about 5ft 3 or something. My uniform was trashed and I still have the scar from the stiches on my forehead." He moved the hair on his forehead aside to show Jen the scar, about an inch long, cutting though his hairline and disappearing into his messy hair.

"It's not really that bad or anything but it sort of disillusioned being a cop for me. I mean I knew that it wasn't really glamorous or anything but I really didn't expect that the police got beaten up so regularly" Matt screwed up his nose, slightly put out about his not-so-cool story. He looked over at Jen, taking in her bemused smile and sparkling eyes, the embarrassment leaving him instantly- he knew that she understood.

"Well, my turn!" he changed the subject before the moment got awkward. "I wanna know… I wanna know what your "I-Spy" was."

Jen's smile turned into shock. "No…. Absolutely not… No way… No" she repeatedly muttered under her breath.

"Come on. You have to answer, that's the rules" Matt was slightly ticked off at his friend, she'd made a huge deal about his not getting her clues and hints and now she wouldn't tell him what she had been talking about.

"Ok, but if you weren't so blind to the world right in front of you we wouldn't be having this conversation. I spy with my little eye… something beginning with 'I'" Jen was seriously pissed off my Matt's question, if he couldn't see it then he didn't deserve to know.

Matt was stuck in a moment of complete puzzlement. Since when was he blind to the world in front of him? The only thing in front of him at both locations was Jen…

Jen rubbed her face, her cheeks pink with anger and embarrassment. "The something beginning with 'I' was…. was." She took a deep breath, knowing that this might be the last moments of their tight friendship. "It was I…I love you"

* * *

I know right. Oh. My. God.

That's what I was thinking as the words just flowed onto the keyboard.

I'm getting a rush just thinking about the next chapter, which should be up tomorow. (The words just wont stop coming!)

love ya  
-Mashee


	4. “The Best is Yet to Come”

Disclaimer: Not mine, although…..

I know that I said that the next chapter would be up sooner than this, but my computer had a major hissy fit and didn't save the first version that I wrote and then I couldn't remember what I had writen and it turned into this major thing and anyway... doesn't matter anymore... here it is

Stakeout  
Chapter 4

_**"The Best is Yet to Come"**_

* * *

_Previously on Stakeout._

_Matt was stuck in a moment of complete puzzlement. Since when was he blind to the world in front of him? The only thing in front of him at both locations was Jen…_

_Jen rubbed her face, her cheeks pink with anger and embarrassment. "The something beginning with 'I' was…. was." She took a deep breath, knowing that this might be the last moments of their tight friendship. "It was I…I love you"_

* * *

It is almost needless, and rather pointless, to say Matt was completely stunned by her declaration. He repeatedly opened and closed his mouth, attempting to speak but finding himself incapable of forming words.

"What?" he finally expressed; his voice incredulous, his brows creased and eyes wide.

Jennifer didn't meet his gaze, in fact she had turned her entire body away from his, staring out the window waiting for the ground to open up and allow her to fall to the bowels of the earth, away from Matt's quizzical look.

Lucky for her their radio crackled into life.  
"…All units be advised, suspect is on the move. Repeat, suspect is on the move. Prepare to detain if necessary…"

Still not meeting his eyes, Jen lent across and grabbed the radio. "Copy that, moving into position to intercept now." Slipping the radio back into place, she turned and stepped out of the car.

Matt however hadn't moved. Thoughts, questions, images and sounds were running uncontrollably through his mind.  
_She loves me_, he thought. Overjoyed, his mind said it again, _She loves me!_ He honestly couldn't believe it. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that his lovely, beautiful, wonderful friend loved HIM. Matt turned to Jen, ready to confirm her declaration but found her seat to be empty. He'd heard the radio burst but had failed to recognise it's importance. He quickly got out of the car in the hopes to catch up what he missed.

Jen was leaning up against the side of the car, her bullet-proof vest careful secured. Matt couldn't help but stare at her, he thought she was so lovely, but could never have imagined that she could have been hiding affection for him.

"Jen? I…" He began, but as he was trying to form the words, he was cut off.

"Suspect's on the move." She said shortly, still avoiding his gaze.

Although he wanted to talk to Jen about their conversations, his common sense and sense of duty pushed him towards his job and not his friend.

Suddenly their suspect burst through the building's front door, repeatedly turning his head to check that no one was following him. Matt could see the butt of a handgun sticking out of the waist band of the man's pants and judging by the size of the suitcase he was carting, it could be assumed that the man was making a runner.

Nodding to Jen, who had been watching the events suspiciously, they stepped out of the shadows, into the direct path of their fleeing suspect.

"Going somewhere sir?" questioned Jen, the man shook his head. Jen raised her eyebrows, and looked down at the gun hidden below. "Is there a reason you're illegally attempting to conceal a weapon or are you just trying to make this easy for me? Please feel free to use it to resist arrest so we can add it to your list of offences, just to make my report that much more interesting." There was a snicker from behind them, Matt realised that Simon, and Duncan had appeared from their post. He walked around until he was behind the suspect.

"Sir, because you're concealing a weapon and attempting to flee from the country in the middle of a murder investigation, we're going to detain you until, either we find enough evidence to convict you or the case is solved." Slipping the cuffs onto the man's wrists, Matt added, "Hope you have a nice night in lock-up."

Handing him over to a uniformed officer, the four Homicide detectives agreed that no more work could be achieved that night. Going their separate ways; Matt back to his car and Jen to a waiting police car, Simon commented to Duncan that something had changed in their friends' relationship. As much as he was loathed to interfere into something that was none of his business, Duncan agreed and the two of them walked back to their car

* * *

Sitting in his car, Matt was unsure why he hadn't left it's cold interior in favour of Jen's warm house; he knew that he needed to talk to her, but a slight feeling of trepidation had crept into the back of his mind. Shaking his head and laughing at his seemingly lack of masculinity, Matt stepped out of the car and, after making sure it was locked, walked up to knock on Jen's white front door.

He waited, listening carefully for footsteps approaching the door. Hearing Jen's steps increase up the hall, he took a deep breath, rehearsed his opening statement in his mind and straightened his shoulders.

* * *

Opening that door was the last thing that Jen wanted to do. Standing in the entrance hall of her house in not much more than a over-sized shirt and shorts, company was not a welcome adjustment to her self-imposed night of self-loathing. At this very moment, her bowl of ice cream was melting on the table in front of the TV, with an episode of 30 Rock loading in the DVD player. She wondered if she could turn around and go back to the lounge.

"Jen, I know you're there. Please open the door." She winced and, sighing, unlocked and pulled open the door.

Looking down at her pitiful appearance, her mussed up hair, old clothes and red-rimed eyes, all the words that Matt had planned out on the drive flew out of his head. Pushing his way into the house, he closed the door behind himself and then, in one passion filled movement, shoved Jen up against the closed door and lent down to kiss her.

The kiss was deep and passionate. His fingers gripped tightly to her hips, keeping her pinned to the wood. Though she was shocked, it didn't take Jen long to reciprocate the Kiss. Her hands ran up and down his back, one finding its place on his shoulder and the other tangled in his hair. Stepping back to take a breath of air, Matt gently touched his forehead to Jen's, both of them breathing hard.

Making a split decision, Matt scooped Jen up into his arms and carried her from the hallway into the kitchen. Setting her on the bench, he leaned in for another kiss, allowing Jen to wrap her legs around his hips to draw him closer. Somehow, standing in her kitchen, the two of them seemed to connect, that every conversation, action and secret thought had been a build-up to this moment.

Jen slipped her hands between them so that she could push Matt away for a few short seconds. "What about Emma?" she asked breathlessly.

"What about her?" Matt muttered, securing Jen's legs, he silenced her next question by lifting of the bench and carrying her down towards her bedroom.

* * *

Mwhahahah

Love Mashee


	5. This is the end

This is the end... the last chapter of Stakeout... OMG it's almost surreal!

* * *

…_Matt scooped Jen up into his arms and carried her from the hallway into the kitchen. Setting her on the bench, he leaned in for another kiss, allowing Jen to wrap her legs around his hips to draw him closer. Somehow, standing in her kitchen, the two of them seemed to connect, that every conversation, action and secret thought had been a build-up to this moment._

_Jen slipped her hands between them so that she could push Matt away for a few short seconds. "What about Emma?" she asked breathlessly._

_"What about her?" Matt muttered, securing Jen's legs, he silenced her next question by lifting of the bench and carrying her down towards her bedroom._

* * *

Jen woke the next morning to the sun peaking through the curtains, a warm body behind her and two deliciously warm lips pressing silent kisses to the back of her neck. Rolling slightly, she opened her eyes to see the smiling face of her lover.

"Morning, love." Matt pressed another kiss to her neck, and then began to kiss up her chin, cheek and then forehead. He pulled her into his arms, allowing their bodies to meld together.

Jen smiled, her head lolling back onto his shoulder, relishing in the warmth and comfort emanating from him. Suddenly doubt shot through her. What was she doing? What was he doing? What were they doing and how could they explain it?

"Matt…" She began, "what… what are we doing?"

"You need a definition?" his voice was incredulous, and Jen felt his hands move from her waist to other parts of her body; then his voice went all husky, "or will a demonstration suffice?"

And all of Jen's doubts vanished from her mind.

* * *

Later that day, after Jen had decided that spending the entire day in bed with Matt, while a dreamy solution to most problems and a perfectly wonderful way to enjoy the weekend, wasn't the best of ideas considering the two of them had shifted all the covers from the bed to the floor and it was cold and slightly awkward laying naked on the bed for more than half an hour (although kinda nice at the same time).

Standing in the kitchen, in the same place where they had been the night before, Jen's doubts returned to her.

"I know what you're thinking," came a voice from the doorway, half dressed, Matt lent up against the door-frame, gazing lovingly at her. "You have doubts. About Us."

She nodded and he crossed the room. Standing in front of her, he took her hands. "I lied before, when I said that the way I look at you was none of your business. It is your business because up until last night… every time I looked at you I was imagining you saying that you loved me as much as I loved you."

Unable to say anything in response, as her throat was tight and tears were welling in her eyes, she squeezed Matt's hand, but he wasn't finished.

"I need to tell you how much you mean to me, because without you… well, there'd be no point living anymore. And I know that's so clichéd, but I needed to tell you." By this point there were tears flowing down Jen's face and she had to break eye contact.

Matt smiled at her reaction and used one finger to wipe her tears away. Turning her head to look at him, he said, "It's just you and me from now on Love."

Jen laughed, she couldn't help herself. Great bursts of embarrassing laughter escaped her, over and over again until Matt joined in. "You are… You are the most cheesiest… per…person I've ever met" she chocked out.

The two of them slid down the wall, arms around each other, supporting, loving, needing each other.

"Yeah," Matt said after they'd calmed down a bit, "but you love me anyway".

And Jen found that she couldn't disagree.


End file.
